RECYCLE 2.0

– Who Said Recycling Stations Had to be Boring?

Brief

"Within recycling, images communicate faster and better than text."

Emilie and I were asked to redesign one of the recycling stations in Hovsjö, an apartment district south of Stockholm housing more than 6000 residents. With a two-week time limit and a small budget, we focused on improving visual image communication, especially since a great number of the residents had trouble understanding Swedish.

Using the municipality’s recycling color coding system as base for new fronts, we created decorative and colorful and patterns using stylized, self-explanatory images of the type recyclable meant to be thrown in each container. We also decided to widen the disposal holes on the containers intended for cardboard since it was hard to fit a square cube in a round hole. The patterns were printed onto films and attached on customized, precision cut metal fronts that we mounted on top of the existing wooden container fronts.